Now in its 29th year, the Printing Impressions 400 provides the industry’s most comprehensive ranking of the leading printing companies in the United states and Canada.

The listings include company name and headquarters location; parent company, if applicable; current and previous year’s rankings; most recent and previous year’s fiscal sales; percentage change; primary specialties; principal officer(s); as well as number of employees, manufacturing plants and total press units.

Financial information for the PI 400 rankings was provided voluntarily by privately held and employee-owned firms. We also did not allow companies that were close to completing a fiscal year to provide projected/estimated sales figures. As a result, printers shown on this list were most often reporting 2011 sales as their most recent figures.

Despite our repeated attempts, various privately held companies refused to divulge their annual printing sales figures. As a result, they were not included on the list. And, a few large firms that did participate, notably RR Donnelley and Valassis, would or could not break down their annual sales by the various print market specialties that we track (so, they don’t appear on any Top 5 charts).

Company rankings for the current and previous year are based on sales figures reported to us in 2012. Therefore, printers that revised their previous year revenues may have changed their ranking as compared with where they were actually ranked on last year’s Printing Impressions 400. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent sales information provided.

Also, individual printing companies that are part of larger graphic arts networks—such as Consolidated Graphics—are not listed separately. In essence, to do so would be to show sales figures twice. Instead, only the revenues of the entire umbrella corporation are included. And, in the case of a holding company that owns a graphic arts firm, the printing operation is listed in our rankings with the holding company’s name and location appearing beneath it.